Notary Locator
Welcome to Notary Locator
Notary Locator :: Public Services In Sydney, Melbourne & More
Welcome to our free online national Directory designed to assist you locate your nearest Notary Public, ready, willing and able to provide notary services for you - wherever you live or work, including Sydney, Melbourne, other Australian capital cities, major cities, metropolitan areas, country towns and regions.
Find A Notary
Select a State or Territory in the map above, or choose its official State flag located in the left hand margin, and then click to continue.
Select a Region within that State or Territory, and then click to continue.
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Solicitors | Notarise International Documents
Whether you are a member of the legal profession, insurance | finance industry, a multinational, a small business, or an individual member of the community, you are invited to search this website's pages to locate a practising Notary Public located near you, authorised by law to notarise international documents and perform other useful notary services, such as witnessing signatures to documents, administering oaths to affidavits, or certifying copy documents as true and correct copies.
A Notary in Australia is normally a long serving practising solicitor appointed by a relevant State or Territory Supreme Court (with the exception of Queensland, where Public Notaries are appointed by an English civil servant - the Master of Faculties, who represents the highest ranking English Church of England cleric, the Archbishop of Canterbury).
Administration of Oaths | Red Seal | Stamp
Notaries in Australia are permitted to prepare and execute legal documents for use in overseas countries in conjunction with their other notarial duties defined in the various State statutes under they are appointed.
Australian appointees affix their identifying red seal or stamp to documents as near as possible to their witnessing signature.
Those who require the services of a public notary listed on this website must positively identify themselves when attending their appointments with notaries, by producing a formal ID documentation e.g. current passport or driver's licence.
Our USA Notary Public counterparts also administer oaths, take acknowledgments, and perform other wide ranging and useful functions, but are not qualified lawyers and consequently are not permitted to offer or give legal advice or prepare legal documents.
The explanation for this important distinction is that American equivalents have no formal legal training.
Australian appointees are also authorised to practise for life, unless removed from the Roll for misconduct, or retire; American notaries are only appointed for short, consecutive terms.
Foreign Affidivit | Statutory Declaration | Certify Copy
Only a Notary in Australia may witness an affidavit, statutory declaration, or certify or verify copied documents required for use in foreign countries. Some foreign countries or their governments may not only require a notary to witness signatures, but also require notarised documents to be legalised or authenticated by the Australian Government with the issue of an Apostille Certificate, as a precaution against fraudulent or improper witnessing.
JUSTICE OF THE PEACE | COMMISSIONER FOR AFFIDAVITS & OTHERS
Justices of the Peace ("JPs") are reputable Australian businessmen or prominent citizens appointed by State or Territory governments with specific powers to administer oaths, take statutory declarations, or certify copied documents, for use within a particular State or Territory of Australia. Other responsible persons such as police officers, pharmacists, and medical practitioners are given similar duties in limited circumstances.
Commissioners for Affidavits and Commissioners for Declarations are practising lawyers who have been appointed by Supreme Courts to perform administrative functions similar to JPs. Unlike JPs and other functionaries however, Commissioners for Affidavits or Declarations charge a professional fee for their services.
Notaries Public, unlike JPs and the other functionaries, are recognised throughout the world. As the former Lord Chancellor of England Lord Eldon once remarked almost two centuries ago… "By the law of nations, notaries have credit everywhere." That is, their signatures and seals are accepted on documents without question subject to the requirement in some instances that a notary’s signature be authenticated or legalised to prevent fraudulent impersonations.
JPs, Commissioners for Affidavits or Declarations and other functionaries are not permitted to take oaths, witness or certify copy documents for use outside Australia, and allowing for minor exceptions*, this particular function remains the exclusive prerogative of Notaries - the only true "international JP".
* The circumstances in which Australian JPs or other functionaries may sign or witness international documents are relatively few and limited only to documents intended to operate in a small number of Commonwealth countries, including former or current British territories, and with the further qualification that signatures to such documents by JPs and other functionaries cannot be authenticated with the issue of an Apostille Certificate by DFAT, if that formality is required.
